Our response to the Free School Meal extension vote
In recent weeks, the Marcus Rashford #ENDCHILDFOODPOVERTY campaign resulted in a widely-signed petition to extend Free School Meal funding during the school holidays up until Easter 2021. A Labour opposition debate and vote was held this week and MPs voted against the extension 322 votes, to 261. As advocates for good food for all, who work hard in the area of holiday provision, this is hugely disappointing news.
Whilst this is not a new issue, the pandemic has clearly given rise to food poverty challenges across our country. With over 35% of Southampton’s children living in poverty prior to the pandemic, we know that this issue is very real and very much in need of national attention - so we thank campaigners and fellow charities for bringing even more attention to it. As Members for the APPG School Food, chaired by Labour MP, Sharon Hodgson, we know that this issue is consistently on the agenda. However, the spotlight being on it lately has been incredibly prominent.
Therefore, we’d like to make space in the online and media commentary for the families impacted by food poverty - whether eligible for Free School Meals or not. We fully appreciate that to having your lives debated so publicly must be hugely challenging and we urge for compassion when speaking about this topic. As many people have called for during the pandemic, we must all support each other. If you are finding yourself struggling to afford food, we have compiled a list of both local and National support options here. Please do reach out if you need help. We’d also love to hear from you if you have any specific ideas of how we, as a charity, can support you.
We’d also like to highlight our work in this area for those who may be new to our charity. Our project, Lunch Crowd, seeks to support families impacted or at risk of food poverty during the school holidays. This sees us either opening up school kitchens at partner led clubs to provide free hot meals and/or providing recipe-led grocery boxes to families to cook healthy meals at home. The later is an extension of our Cooking at Home project launched this year, promoting and empowering healthy and affordable home cooking. This project is open access and available to all.
We are delighted that both aspects of our support, Cooking at Home and Lunch Crowd, have recently been awarded a combination of £125k in funding from the HM Government's Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund, and from the Barclays 100x100 fund. This will significantly extend our reach to families, commencing from October half term. We are delighted to be in a position to support approximately 1250 families in the local area. We also would like to thank those who supported our projects since the pandemic, through donations and fundraising. It is incredibly appreciated!
To support these projects, helping us reach more families for longer and in more ways, you can donate here: https://www.citycateringsouthampton.co.uk/support-us-donate
We also facilitate a Holiday Provision Steering Group, funded through a VIVID grant administered by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Community Foundation, in order to bring more local organisations such as local churches, schools, charities and housing associations together to address this issue.
Overall, school meals is a vital service in our society, and especially for those in low-income families. They support and nurture the next generation. City Catering serves approximately 9,500 meals a day in Southampton schools, however, with the combination of Government funding lagging behind industry-agreed value for high quality meals and the impact of the pandemic, we are in the position where we do need to increase our fundraising efforts.
If you’d like to be able to support our response to the pandemic, supporting both school meals and our care meals services, please donate to your Covid-19 Response Fund here.